Replies to This Discussion

Sylvia DoughtyNothing at all to do with friendships Juliet and you and Jennifer are going off on an emotional tangent over this.....you and Jennifer were organizing an event on behalf of charities to which we all agreed to donate money and we all, in good faith, gave you that money but it still remained our money up and until the moment you gave it to a charity involved on our behalf but you had an obligation to tell us what you were doing with that money and as I have said I asked you on 19th November, 2011 and the reply I got certainly doesn't match up to what you are now saying you actually did with the money and all I can see is that Debra and Sophie, along now with myself, are asking you for verification as to exactly what has happened to the money. I have to say that I am 100% certain if the ball was on the other foot both of you would be shouting my name from the rooftops and making sure everyone heard what I had done so please don't try and turn this around as though because we are asking questions of you we are at fault because both you and Jennifer are the ones, that when you undertook to organize the event also undertook an obligation to all of us who would donate and you are the ones that have not upheld that obligation, not us !!

Thanks Debra for keeping us all informed of what is happening on FB and especially bringing over Juliet's post as I had just done that too but when I saw yours have deleted mine and thanks too for bringing over my comment.

Many thanks for bringing this thread over here Debra, I was trying to do it, but couldn't copy and paste it all. I think its best if we keep the remainder of the discussion on here so every knows what is going on and what is being requested, by and from whom etc etc....

Neither Juliet or myself have done anything legally or morally wrong. Yes, we've made mistakes, and by the looks of things, pretty bloody big ones I admit that, but nothing was ever done to deliberately deceive, mislead or misguide anyone who has paid into the fund.

We haven't deliberately done anything that would lead or cause embarrassment to ourselves or to Michael himself. Everything I have done in organising the events has been solely and purely for the MBC and the 2 charity's that Michael approved.

I've explained myself over and over and I've said I cannot give you figures or totals if I don't have them personally can I, If I don't hold the accounts or the account details so, how can I tell you how much is in there?

I receive the checks from you guys that are made out to Juliet and then I post them forward to Juliet. Juliet hasn't been living at home for the past few months and probably hasn't even had the paper work with her either so she probably didn't know for sure how much was there.

For those in the USA and elsewhere, we don't live that far apart, but getting together is both a logistical and virtual nightmare. I cannot travel by trains as I cant manage the steps etc in my wheelchair. I wish we did live closer as I could have helped Juliet with the running of the accounts while she was at work where as I have been remiss and have left it all to her and that was wrong of me.

All pretty feeble excuses, I'm sure, but it doesn't alter the fact that yes, everyone has a right to know the amounts and yes we have failed to deliver them to you, this is inexcusable and I have apologised for this over and over, but had hoped that you would have trusted us enough to know that Juliet was looking after the money in the account.

Our only real mistake as far as I can see was caused by our failings in communications both with each other and with yourselves. The latter is inexcusable and for this once again I apologise unreservedly for this. Those who had and those who had not had paid in had every right to be made aware of the totals and figures and we failed in this part of our duty as fund raisers. I cannot apologise enough for my part in mis-communications.

For personal reasons we wont be holding the reception this year and have offered everyone who has already bought tickets a full refund. This offer still stands should you require it or for those who have exchanged their ticket money for purchases, you are welcome to have a full refund of course.

Once again, I offer my apologies for the part I have played in not communicating with you all. I have let you down in this sense and I am sorry. My soul intention was to raise funds for Michaels charity and for the two UK charity's that Michael has approved. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you will allow, I would like to continue to raise funds by selling items even if not by way of a reception as I still have a few surprises in store for you and will ensure you that all totals will be listed as and when we have them. I would hate the charity's to miss out because we have failed and these mistakes must not be allowed to be repeated. Mistakes MUST be learnt by!!

Some have accused us of going off on 'emotional tangents'. Yes we did rather take that tact, but its not hard to see why. We felt as if we were being accused of something sinister and did indeed feel that there was an accusatory tone in some of the posts. Yes, I admit that my first thought was that we were being accused of stealing the money, but I now see that isn't the case. I apologise for my, somewhat harsh post on Facebook.

It is hard to admit your own failings and mistakes, but mistakes have undoubtedly been made and mistakes are there to be amended and learnt by!

Thank you Jennifer for putting your response on here.....I have already acknowledged and accepted your apology on FB but I will do so again here and I thank you for the up-to-date information as regards monies donated.

I should also like to say to you, that although you have intimated that money would be returned to those who have exchanged their ticket money for purchases, such as I have done, I still want to go ahead with our agreement and do not want money returned Jennifer and I also hope my cheque, to cover postage for the items I have bought, arrives with you shortly.

You would need to clarify with Gail/Michael's management but I don't think you can say Michael approved anything because he has never publicly endorsed either CLIC or the other one. It may sound picky but when it comes to business it puts people in a very difficult position. Saying you told Michael to make him aware would be easier.

Catherine, I have said all along that Michael approved the two charity's because that is exactly what he did!

Juliet and I spoke to Michael backstage at the RAH and advised him of our intentions on who we wished to raise funds for. Michael agreed that these were both very worthwhile causes and he said he was happy for us to raise funds for them. Is this not approval? It was at the same time that Michael signed loads of items for us including the shorts, programmes, photos, LP's etc...

Jen. You clearly stated he approved the charities. Then you say he was happy for you to raise money for other charities. Why would he say 'no, you can't'?
The answer to your question is no, it is not approval to say he doesn't mind you raising for other charities.
Michael has never publicly endorsed any of this.

I just want to get the information for us all as to where our donations have gone and how much each charity received and when. This is only because I trusted them both so much and then to be nearly a year on and get different accounts of what has happened to the money raised and now the response we are getting for asking about it - I've lost trust in them both. I hear Jennifer's apology and if she can back that up with the response letters from the charities and inform us of how much each charity received and when then that will be acceptable. I am concerned at their comments and the fact they are so defensive when we are purely asking for information they should have shared a long time ago. I don't understand why they are being like this about it. We went to the reception and handed over our money to be passed on to the three agreed charities. If I'd known a year on we would be having to wonder where it went I would have given the money directly to the charities. That is why I haven't bought a ticket this year.

I am very glad that you have come in and asked the question Debra because as I have said, until today, because of the response I got on the thread when I asked about donations and was led to believe that all the money was still in a bank account and until MB had announced a date to play at the RAH that money would remain there and was still being added to by the sale of tickets from the proposed now cancelled reception and from sales of items advertised on the FB page and also of course any interest earned which I would think is hardly of any interest to anyone because of the paltry amount it will be because of interest rates, therefore, no decision had been reached as to what the ultimate final figure was and, therefore, no money had been split three ways. Now today we find out that a certain amount of money has gone here and another amount gone there BUT what I find most peculiar is, no money has been sent to MBC which, I would thought, considering the event was being run through Michael Bolton's website, should have been the first charity to have benefited from the donations, HIS very own charity and because that has not happened it makes me wonder if too much significance was being put on handing a cheque over personally to Michael when, in actual fact, the method by which the charity receives the money is inconsequential but that it receives it, is of paramount importance, when that was one of the main reasons for people donating because of the involvement of MBC. Maybe I am away off on a wrong idea but it was most certainly mine !!

Now all I want for everyone that donated is to have confirmed that a payment has indeed been made to all three charities including MBC. How much was given to each charity and when it was given. Also it would be nice for everyone to see any responses from those charities.

Whatever the excuses this should never have had to come to this to find out what happened to our donations.

Sophie and I will not be taking part in anything organised by Jennifer and Juliet again as the trust has been lost.

No matter what mistakes have been made it took all of this to get answers and even now we don't have the full picture.

It shouldn't be this hard or hostile to ask a question about such a matter. It also isn't what fund raising is about.

It should always be about giving the money straight to the charity and not hanging on to it for personal gain - in this case backstage time.

Very disappointing to have to have this discussion today.

In future we will be giving our donations directly to the MBC charity.